Animal Production

Assessment of Hide and Skin Defects, Preservation Methods and Grade in Urban and Rural Areas of Fogera District, northwestern Amhara, Ethiopia

2025-07-24T07:00:36Z

Assessment of Hide and Skin Defects, Preservation Methods and Grade in Urban and Rural Areas of Fogera District, northwestern Amhara, Ethiopia Chalachew Asefa The study was conducted to assess pre and post-slaughter defects, preservation methods and grading of rawhide and skin in rural and urban areas of Fogera district, south Gondar zone, Amhara regional state. Three rural and two urban kebeles were selected purposively based on potential of hide and skin production. From the study district 382 (182 for farmers and 200 for urban dwellers) households, 5 middlemen, 12 butcher men, 3 key informants, 10 hotels and restaurants and 3 collection centers were selected. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 23. Majority of respondents in the study district sell hide and skin to get income. Out of 182 farmers interviewed, (44%) used the preservation methods of sun drying and (56%) use air drying. All intermediaries and collection centers in the study area preserve hide and skin by using only salt drying. A total of 1152 hide and skins (384 cattle hides, 384 goatskins and 384 sheepskins) were randomly selected to assess the observable defects using close observation. Hides and skins were graded according to the Ethiopian Quality and Standard Authority set. All the examined skin had one or more types of defects. The leading observed defects that downgrade dry salted cattle hides were flesh remnant (82.2%), flay cut (74.83%) and dirt contamination (73.1%). The major defects observed on dry salted Goatskin were flesh remnant (65.8%), flay cut (39.53%) and dirt (44.2%). In dry salted sheepskin, the higher prevalence defects were flay cut (67.4%), flesh remnant (50%), and dirt (41.5%). The dry salted cattle hides were 63.8, 32 and 4.2% in Grade 1, Grade II and Grade III respectively. The grade of dry salted sheep skins were Grade I (29.9%), Grade II (49.1%), Grade III (16.4%), and Grade IV (4.6%). The dry salted goatskins were graded in Grade I (44.7%), Grade II (30.2%), Grade III (7.7%), Grade IV (16.97%) and Reject (0.3%). Based on this result it could be recommended that extensive training and extension service should be given on pre, during and post slaughtering defects to improve the quality of hide and skins for maximizing income.

Assessing Husbandry Practices and Evaluating Productive and Age At First Layof Bovans Brown,- Sasso T-44, And Koekoek Chicken Breeds in Bahir Dar Zuria District,Amhara Ethiopia

2025-04-01T07:30:07Z

Assessing Husbandry Practices and Evaluating Productive and Age At First Layof Bovans Brown,- Sasso T-44, And Koekoek Chicken Breeds in Bahir Dar Zuria District,Amhara Ethiopia Mastewal Mulu Exotic chickens are introduced to Ethiopia because of the low performance of indigenous chickens. This study was conducted in Bahir Dar zuria, Amhara Region with the objective of monitoring and evaluating the productive and age at first lay of Bovans Brown, Sasso T-44, and Koekoek chickens under semi-intensive and intensive husbandry systems.Purposive and random sampling procedures were used. A totalof 44 chicken producers were for a survey and 350 chickens were selectedformonitoring. The data was analyzed using SPSS Version 16 for the survey and the ANOVA GLM procedure of SAS version 9.0 for monitoring data. The majority (63.6%)of chicken producers were female. The majority (86.36%) of the chicken producers were practicing semi-intensive husbandry systems. The body weight of the Sasso T44 chickenat many weeks of age was higher than the other two breeds. Bovans Brown has an age of first egg laying5.3±0.02month under semi-intensive and 4.53±0.01 inintensive systems, and have better egg production and HDEP followed by Sasso T-44 and Koekoek breedsin bothhusbandry systems.The mean egg weight of Sasso T-44 is 53.1±0.94g, BB 51.2±0.74g, and 49.2±0.52g Koekoek in a semi-intensive system.The intensive husbandry system is more profitable at 97230.75birr than the semi-intensive husbandry system at 62185.79birr. The high cost of feeds, the prevalence of disease, predators, and housing problems, were the main problems related to exotic chicken production.An intensive husbandry system is essential rather than a semi-intensive husbandry system for better performance and the Government should give attention to chicken production to minimize the challenges for better chicken production.

Effect of Fertilizer Application and Varieties on Morphological Parameters, Dry Matter Yield and Nutritional Quality of Selected Grass Species under Rain Fed Conditions in Bahir Dar Zuria District of Ethiopia

2025-04-01T07:24:28Z

Effect of Fertilizer Application and Varieties on Morphological Parameters, Dry Matter Yield and Nutritional Quality of Selected Grass Species under Rain Fed Conditions in Bahir Dar Zuria District of Ethiopia Mekuanint Tadilo The purpose of this experiment was to assess the morphological parameters, dry matter yield and nutritional content, of a few selected cultivars of Brachiaria, Desho, and Napier grasses grown for two years under various fertilizer treatments. The field experiment was carried out at Robit Bata Kebele in the Bahir Dar Zuria district of Amhara region, Ethiopia. In the trial, four fertilizer rates (0,100kgN, 300kg N and manure) and three grass varieties (Brachiaria decumbens ILRI-10871, Pennisetum glaucifolium Areka-DZF-590, and Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791) were used. Each 9-m2 plot in the treatments was arranged in a 3x4x2 factorial configuration arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Hand labor was used for agronomic tasks like weeding, fertilizer application, and hoeing. Morphological data were collected from 10 randomly selected plants grown in the middle rows of each plot. The harvested forage samples were weighted, dried, and then grounded for chemical composition analyses using Near-infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy. All recorded dataset were managed using Microsoft excel 2010 and subjected to a general linear model procedure of SAS (9.0) and Pearson correlation analysis, at significance level of alpha <0.05. The findings demonstrated that the morphological characteristics, dry matter yield, and nutritional values were strongly impacted by the interaction of fertilizer application, year, and grass varieties. Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 produced the tallest plant (175.0 and 187.0cm), and the highest dry matter yield (12.5 and 21.88 t/ha) when measured at manure fertilizer in the first and second year production, respectively. The lowest CP % was found in desho (6.21 t/ha) and B. decumbens (9.23 t/ha) cultivated without fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively, while the maximum CP % was found in Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (13.72 and 14.09%) at manure fertilizer. Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (34.09%) and Pennisetum glaucifolium Areka-DZF-590 (35.68%) at manure fertilizer had the lowest ADL %, whereas B. decumbens (47.93 and 46.92%) had the greatest ADF % without fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively. The highest ME was found in Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (11.77 MJ/kg at 300 kg N and 12.84 MJ/kg with manure), whereas the highest IVOMD was found in Napier (60.36 and 68.09%) with manure fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively. Moreover, the highest net benefit was obtained from Napier grass at manure fertilizer (39337.5 and 73358.76 birr) and the lowest net benefit was recorded from B.decumbens at without fertilizer (21318.7 birr) and 100kg/ha N fertilizer (32241.51birr) in the first and second years, respectively. In conclusion, in the research areas and other agro-ecologies where there is similar agro-ecology, the Napier grass-16791 with manure fertilizer would have a more advantageous production performance to meet forage quantity, economic feasibility and nutritional value demands.

Phenotypic and Genetic Parameters for Production Traits of Abergelle Goats in Community-Based Breeding Program Scale Up Villages in Case of Alquzu and Addis Mender

2025-04-01T07:16:50Z

Phenotypic and Genetic Parameters for Production Traits of Abergelle Goats in Community-Based Breeding Program Scale Up Villages in Case of Alquzu and Addis Mender Yeshiwas Walle Abergelle goats are indigenous to northern Ethiopia, and dual purpose animal. Community-based breeding programs enhance its productivity and resilience, supporting farmers and sustainable agriculture. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters for growth and milk production traits of Abergelle goats in community-based breeding program (CBBP) scale up villages. The data used in this study include six years (2018 to 2023) data collected for Abergelle goats community based breeding program scaling up villages in Alquzu and Addis mender. Data have been collected on growth and milk production traits, from the established village of goat community based breeding program area. The traits studied, birth weight (BWT), weight at three months (TMWT), weight at six months (SMWT), weight at nine months (NMWT), weight at one year (YWT), average daily weight gain from birth to three months age (ADG1), average daily weight gain from three month age to six months age (ADG2), average daily weight gain from six months to nine months (ADG3), and from nine months to one year (ADG4), and for milk production traits average daily milk yield (ADMY), milk yield in 84 days (MY84days) along with different lactation length. Direct heritability for growth and milk traits was computed using wombat software. Multivariate mixed animal model was applied to estimate genetic parameters. Multivariate analysis was utilized to estimate correlations between traits. The overall least square mean of body weights ± standard errors (LSM±SE) for BWT, TMWT, SMWT, NMWT, and YWT were 2.25±0.04, 7.5±0.03, 8.8±0.040, 12.1±0.067, and 15.3±0.092 kg, respectively. The overall LSM±SE of ADG1, ADG2, ADG3, and ADG4 were 58.2±2.27, 37.8±2.04, 19.2±0.7, and 10.5±0.12g per day, respectively. The mean values for ADMY, LL, and MY 84 days were 302.6±6.68 g, 9.4±0.23 weeks and 28.003±47.45 kg, respectively. The direct heritability estimates for BWT, TMWT, SMWT, NMWT, and YWT were 0.34 ± 0.070, 0.45 ± 0.062, 0.40 ± 0.040, 0.42 ± 0.07and 0.41 ± 0.14 respectively. Direct heritability for growth traits moderate to high, selection can improve the growth traits. The phenotypic correlation between birth weight and the traits TMWT, SMWT, NMWT, and YWT was found to be low. However, there was a high genetic correlation between TMWT and the other traits—SMWT, NMWT, and YWT—with values ranging from 0.71 to 0.87. The correlations between TMWT-SMWT, SMWT-NMWT, and NMWT-YWT were high and positive, indicating a strong genetic association. The genetic correlation of birth weight was lower but higher correlations were found among the other growth traits (SMWT, NMWT, and YWT), indicating one of these traits increases; the others tend to increase as well. Therefore, birth weight as growth trait had no strong relation with later stages of growth traits in this study for Abergelle goat in scale up community based breeding programs. The direct heritability estimates for ADMY, LMY, and LL of Abergelle goats were 0.08±0.005, 0.16±0.034 and 0.04±0.034.The repeatability estimates for DMY, LMY and LL were 0.50, 0.22 and 0.06. Both, heritability and repeatability estimates for milk production traits indicate the presence of moderate variation within the studied goat population and thus selection could be used as the best tool of genetic improvement of Abergelle goat for milk production.